The Department of Health, Education, and Welfare under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is becoming increasingly aware of the potential food-born illness or microbiological contamination of food incident to the improper care of storage of food prior to the final consumption. One very important area of concern is proper storage of the food, and this typically must be at temperatures below 45.degree.F to minimize the growth of bacteria which takes place much more rapidly at higher temperatures, such as room temperature. The normal refrigeration cabinets available for restaurant use adequately serve this need in the pure storage of food.
However, the thawing of frozen food prior to the cooking, preparation, serving, and final consumption is another matter. It is not uncommon for restaurant employees merely to remove frozen food from the freezer and set the food exposed on a table or counter for a period such as overnight or longer subjected to room temperature in order to thaw the food. This is unsanitary in that insects or rodents can be attracted to and even successfully have access to the food, and secondly the surface temperature of the food typically approaches that of the room temperature, thereby greatly exceeding the upper safe storage temperature and more commonly for extended periods. The FDA, many local state or city sanitary or health departments, and the National Sanitation Foundation serving the restaurant industry are now proposing stringent rules on the proper manner of thawing frozen food with some guidelines of maximum allowable surface temperatures likely to be established.